The pastry ladies of St. John the Baptist

There is making some cookies for a party and then there is what the dedicated ladies of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church spend weeks preparing to give the community a taste of their Greek specialties.

The pastries enjoyed by visitors of the popular three-day OC Greek Fest are made by the volunteers in the church's kitchen. Recently, they pulled out the baking sheets and set to work making melomakarouna – individually rolled cookies doused in a honey coating and sprinkled with walnuts. On Tuesday, they will be producing diples – a fried cookie drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon and walnuts.

Baklava (layers of filo dough filled with chopped walnuts and topped with honey syrup); galactobouriko (creamy custard between layers of filo and covered with honey syrup); and karidopita (rich walnut spice cake with a delicate honey syrup) will be available at the festival, which is the main fundraiser for the church. Annual attendance typically exceeds 10,000.

What started as an annual picnic in 1966 grew to the OC Greek Festival, now held on the church's grounds.

Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add flour by hand to butter mixture, dough should not be sticky. Roll pieces of dough into balls, then shape into logs.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove to cooling racks and let cool.

Honey coating

2 cups honey

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

Juice from ½ lemon

Combine above ingredients in a 2-quart saucepan and heat until honey is loose and runny. Place 4-5 baked cookies into pan and gently mix with a slotted spoon in the honey mixture until some of the honey has been absorbed into the cookies

Remove cookies from saucepan and place on a plate until cool. Continue until all cookies have been soaked in the honey. Place each cookie into a small-sized cupcake holder. Then, sprinkle with walnut mixture

Walnut mixture

2 cups walnuts

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground clove

Blend all in food processor until very fine. Then sprinkle on cookies.

Diples

4 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

21/2 cups flour

1/4 cup butter

Honey

Cinnamon

Chopped walnuts

Beat eggs until very light. Beat in 2 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Work in the other 1/2 cup flour and a little more if necessary to make a soft dough that does not stick to fingers. Turn dough onto a board and spread lightly with butter. Work in butter with hands a little at a time. Knead dough until it is smooth and soft.

Cut dough into four parts. Roll one part on floured board until paper thin. Keep remaining dough covered to avoid drying. Use pastry wheel to cut into 4- by 6-inch pieces. Drop into hot oil or deep shortening. Using two forks turn dough over immediately and roll quickly like a jelly roll before dough becomes crisp. Fry until very lightly browned. Remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Dilute honey with a little hot water and drizzle over the diples. Sprinkle with cinnamon and finely chopped nuts.